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Obstacles to guideline implementation persist, can be overcome
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CHICAGO — Clinical practice recommendations and guidelines for lipid management are routinely updated. However, obstacles to new guideline implementation exist, and it is important to address and overcome these barriers for optimal patient care and education, a speaker said at the National Lipid Association Scientific Sessions.
Such obstacles include uncertainty about the ideal educational approach for providers and the public; conflicting cholesterol recommendations from the NLA compared with the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guideline on the Treatment of Blood Cholesterol to Reduce Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Risk in Adults; health system priorities and political challenges; financial limitations; and time pressures for providers, according to Carl E. Orringer, MD, incoming president of the NLA and associate professor of medicine at the University of Miami Health System.
Carl E. Orringer
Obstacles to guideline implementation “can potentially sabotage our efforts to try to forward our recommendations,” he said during a presentation.
Orringer outlined several strategies to assess these obstacles to guideline implementation for attendees at the NLA Scientific Sessions:
- Emphasize common patient benefit goals of stakeholder organizations.
- Establish meaningful inter-organizational communication.
- Provide a meaningful comment period and interaction on new guidelines.
- Recognize the importance of collaborative compromise on the final product.
During the presentation, Orringer also highlighted specific steps that may result in successful implementation of recommendations and guidelines. Health care providers are encouraged to carefully read the documents and contact the NLA expert panel with questions; understand the rationale for the NLA recommendations; and use educational tools that have been developed to help understand and implement the recommendations, such as the NLA’s slide review, which compares the perspectives of the NLA and ACC/AHA expert panels on lipid management for the prevention of atherosclerotic CVD, and the Complex Lipid Management Self-Assessment Programs 17: Guidelines in Clinical Lipidology – Concepts and Controversies, both available on the NLA website. In addition, it is important to be respectful of those who take different approaches to cholesterol management, he said. – by Katie Kalvaitis
Reference:
Orringer CE. NLA Recommendations for Patient-Centered Management of Dyslipidemia – Part 1: Implementation, Challenges, New Opportunities. Presented at: National Lipid Association Scientific Sessions; June 11-14, 2015; Chicago.
Disclosure: Orringer reports no relevant financial disclosures.